After a long career as a concept illustrator in the advertising and motion-picture industry, James Crandall shifted his focus to traditional easel painting. He finds subject matter in everyday life and is always looking for an intriguing play of light or the unstaged gestures of people at work and at play. An ongoing series of paintings depicts life in his maternal grandfather's hometown of Lucca in northern Tuscany, where he regularly visits. Recent work also includes scenes from the rural backroads of California's Gold Country, where he and his wife Nancy make their home. He is a Master Signature Member of the Oil Painters of America and a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society.